Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

It’s amazing how little some things change down the centuries.  Take the life of Gerard Sagredo, for instance.  He left his ‘comfort zone’ of home and church because he felt God’s calling on his life.  He travelled abroad and taught in order to earn his living in a non-Christian country.  In his spare time he...

St Ceolfrith is a good patron saint for anyone who has studied hard for their profession, is strong in the face of tragedy, and who can also offer some homely care to others in need. This well-loved abbot of Wearmouth and Jarrow came from a noble Northumbrian family, and was ordained at Ripon when he...

Wilson Carlile was born in Brixton in 1847, and did not set out to become an evangelist. Instead, he was brilliant at both languages and music, and excelled as a businessman. That is, until an economic recession and serious illness brought him crashing down and finished his career, aged only 31. Not surprisingly, a serious...

Very few people stand out as being incredibly good, but Vincent de Paul was one of them.  His life touched thousands of people, who were helped and inspired by his love and kindness. Vincent de Paul was born in 1581 to a Gascon peasant family at Ranquine. Educated by the Franciscans and then at Toulouse...

What really gets a woman remembered?  Loved? Respected? Lioba the abbess of Bischofsheim is the patron saint for any woman who wants to make the most of her life. Lioba was born in Wessex early in the 8th century.  Her family was noble, her mother was a relative of the monk Boniface (the Billy Graham...

St Michael is an archangel, whose name means ‘who is like unto God?’  He makes various appearances throughout the Bible, from the book of Daniel to the Book of Revelation.  In Daniel, he is ‘one of the princes’ of the heavenly host, and the special guardian of Israel.  In Revelation, he is the principal fighter...

By Canon David Winter  What is an angel? Easy, people think: a shining figure with glorious wings, who appears from time to time to do some mighty work for God or bring a very special message from him. Well, that’s right in one sense (apart from the wings, which owe more to stained glass windows...

Sundays of the Month 6th August        The Transfiguration of our Lord 13th August     Tenth Sunday after Trinity 20st August      Eleventh Sunday after Trinity 27th August     Twelfth Sunday after Trinity   Editor:   Kings and mystics, writers and martyrs – August does well with its feast days that remember outstanding Christians. 1          Ethelwold – Saint of Wessex...

St Ethelwold (c.912 – 84) did great things for the church at Winchester, which in those days was the principle town of Wessex.   He began as a simple monk, eager to restore the Rule of Benedictine in England, a major reform for the church of the time.  So, after serving at the abbey in Glastonbury,...

You know how some men find some women’s interest in romance and clothes hard to cope with?   Well, Sithney (or Sezni) should be the patron saint of all such men. According to a Breton folk legend, Sithney was a hermit of long ago, minding his own business, when one day God told him that he...

Jean-Baptiste Vianney is the saint for those whose passion is to help people find peace with God. Vianney was born near Lyons in 1786, the son of a peasant farmer. With no money for schooling, he first became a shepherd. But, like David in the Bible, his deep personal faith and zeal soon drew him...

Many Christians have dreamed of doing something spectacular for God, which would be remembered for centuries afterwards. Oswald, who lived from 605 to 642AD, was in a position to do so. He was a King, whose father, Aethelfrith, was a great warrior who laid the foundations of the great kingdom of Northumbria. But Aethelfrith was...